Getting ready for furniture sourcing tour in China

To make the most of furniture sourcing trip: save money, purchase furniture of the right sizes and styles you gotta get ready. Do not neglect preparation. Lots of clients understand how some groundwork on the project can help everybody to save and optimize the trip time. Customers come with floor plans, measurements, shopping lists — ready to buy and choose. But we have encountered a number of cases when people have come all the way to China but halfway through suddenly remembered about forgetting the measurements at home. Today we’ll tell about how to savvily think the sourcing tour through to make it efficient.

1. Get the project ready

To place kitchen order clients ought to have all the measurements ready. All the manufacturers need it because all kitchens are custom-made for every customer individually.

A perfectly planned trip certainly includes a full set of measurements for every room. Custom made furniture, building and decoration materials require some ground calculation. Ask the constructor or calculate yourself the number of materials you might need. The more detailed information a factory receive from a client, the less the mistake odds are. Take all the material even slightly related to furniture and construction.

2. Make a full shopping / wishlist

Furniture malls are not just big, they are large and go for blocks and blocks: total market space of all the furniture - only furniture - malls is 1,5 bigger than Central Park in New York and 7,5 times bigger than Disneyland. Once customers get here, they don’t know where to look first and lose any focus left after a long an exhausting flight. It takes time to go back to senses and remember what do you come here for.

It’s better to prepare the wish/shopping list of all the furniture and other items and confirm it with our manager. To optimize the tour time our employees take customers to buy what they need without mannerless roaming in markets.

3. Get the details straight with agents prior to arrival

Be sure to sign a contract with an agent responsible for the order, and if they do not agree to sign one, we strongly suggest find another more reliable company. Before placing the order make sure it can be delivered safe and sound to your door. Buying furniture requires certainty in production quality and getting all the items in one piece that far abroad. Check and visit company’s office (if there is) and talk all the details through till it’s 100% clear.

4. Get all the paperwork done

Most of the countries required to get Chinese visa prior to arrival. Some countries only can apply for a visa with a Chinese company’s invitation.

We provide all the needed paperwork for our clients.

Do not delay visa application until the last week before the trip. Remember that the embassy doesn’t work during Chinese holidays, and the holidays of the country it’s located in. Find the list of the documents required for visa application or ask the tour agency to apply on your behalf to the embassy of China in your country or country where you’re planning to apply in. Visa application needs providing hotel and flights booking information. The earlier you start, the less there will be to worry before the trip to China.

5. Make the right shoes / clothes choice

As was mentioned before Foshan furniture markets are gigantic and the only way to travel inside is on foot. If you have problems walking or can’t walk very fast, do take this into account planning the time for the tour.

Customers walk 5-10 hours every day and uncomfortable shoes will make them miserable. Comfy shoes and clothes are the keys for a long distance marathon for furniture.

6. Inform about people with difficulties to walk or keep a long time on feet prior to your arrival

Let us know as soon as it’s possible about people in your company that have problems with walking or walking for a long time. The earlier we know, the easier to arrange comfortable transportation for you and your family/friends.

7. Inform the agent about the budget and a transaction option

We suggest coordinating the budget and items of expense with your manager. Our employees are very experienced and take customers only to the places that work in your budget. Many people think that by not revealing the budget to an agent, they will save even more money. Unfortunately, taking customers to shops by guess only leads to wasting agent’s and client’s time.

8. Do not take children with you

If you have a chance, do not take children with you.

Trust your children to nannies, grandparents or some other relatives. If necessary, arrange their free time and don’t torture them by walking hours in markets they have no interest in.

Furniture sourcing shopping is not easy and requires focus and patience. We can tell from our experience that children get tired on the very first day and it becomes extremely boring for them.

We hope you will take this information into account when planning your furniture sourcing trip to China. If you have any questions that we did not cover in this article, contact us any of the ways you see here.

If you decided to buy the furniture of your dream — click here to book furniture sourcing tour in China.🖤